TFG Extras
by Loeka
Summary: She has no idea how powerful her ability is.
1. Chapter 1

Takes place during chapter 11.

* * *

She has no idea how powerful her ability is. Of course she doesn't, she has no comparison for it. She doesn't know that she's already reached a level that apprentices take at least several months to achieve.

Jee-han isn't an apprentice. She's a novice. She is literally the most novice a novice can be.

She's already capable of defending herself against the average user in the city.

"That's really the squirt?" The shocked and disbelieving ki accompanying Wind's soft question perfectly illustrates just how off the scale Jee-han's ability is.

"Yep," Sae-young answers without taking her eyes off the spar, more interested in what's happening below than in Wind's reaction. She's already gotten over most of her own surprise about Jee-han's ability, and as always she isn't worrying about what this new thing will mean for the future.

Sun-il wishes that he could do the same.

He watches as Jee-han smoothly catches the bicycle thrown at her with enough force to shatter normal bones, her stance balanced so she use the bicycle's momentum to spin around and throw it back at Grandfather more force than she can currently generate on her own. Her throw lacks the perfect aim of her auto-targeting, but it's still far better than a normal could ever achieve without years of extensive training.

Even ignoring the force with which Grandfather threw the bicycle, she would've fallen flat on her face if she'd tried to do that this morning.

Wind shakes his head incredulously when Jee-han easily dodges the car Grandfather throws as a simultaneous counter and retaliation for the bicycle, her every movement graceful in a way Sun-il never thought she could be before today. "And here I thought you were overreacting."

Sun-il wishes that he was overreacting. Before this morning, he'd been convinced that, aside from her encounter with the Black Demon, he was. Which hadn't helped lessen his reaction, but at least he'd been aware of it.

Now he knows that he hadn't been overreacting. If anything, he'd been underreacting.

"You should see her when she uses her techniques, she's easily twice as good with them," Sae-young says, and while her ki is as relaxed as her words, Sun-il knows that she truly does understand the kind of danger Jee-han is in now.

All of them do.

Wind lets out an impressed whistle. Part of it is in reaction to Sae-young's words, but mostly it's because Jee-han, who'd realized too late that Grandfather had thrown the trash lid with a curving spin, shakes off a blow that should've snapped her neck like it's nothing more than a light smack. Two hundred and twenty health left.

"Inventory," she rushes open and pulls out an energy bar out of seemingly thin air while saying "Close inventory" in the same breath to get rid of the blind spot it creates, before she starts eating the energy bar as fast she can while jumping over another car thrown at her as though she's always been capable of it.

She's been capable of it for mere _hours_.

He can't believe he managed to miss just how mind boggling her ability is yesterday. Her inventory alone should've made him realize. He had realized that her ability is exceptional of course, but he hadn't grasped the full scope of it. Even though he really should have.

Jee-han's ability, without any conscious effort on her part, has created a permanent pocket dimension. A pocket dimension that doesn't just manipulate space, it manipulates time.

It manipulates time while anchored to her _and_ _nothing else_.

He's blaming the fact that he was overwhelmed by his best friend suddenly being a natural for failing to think through what that means yesterday. Which doesn't excuse his blindness in the slightest, because there are so many other things that should've made him realize.

Like the fact that space-time manipulation isn't her core ability, it's _a minor skill_.

"Doesn't she ever get hurt? Or tired for that matter?" Wind asks, the question pointing out yet another way in which Jee-han's ability is ridiculously overpowered.

"Nope. It's the weirdest thing, she never gets fatigued, and hitting her doesn't affect her health in any way," Sae-young replies.

"It does affect her health," Rain counters without halting his close examination of Jee-han's energy, even more fascinated by it than he was this morning. He's even taken off his glasses. "It merely lacks any kind of bodily consequence."

Merely lacks. As though a skill like that is a dime in a dozen.

"She also does experience a form of fatigue. When pushed beyond her physical limits, she collapses and can barely move for ten minutes, before her rate of recovery starts improving exponentially. She requires exactly fifteen minutes to recover fully from her exhaustion."

Recovered aside from some lingering pain, at least. Rain is right though, for all intents and purposes, it only takes her fifteen minutes to recover from absolute exhaustion. Even more astonishing, she can be pushed to the same heights immediately afterwards. Can be pushed to even greater heights if her stats improve before she reaches her previous limit.

The depth of how much her body has changed is truly disturbing when he thinks about it too deeply. That's without getting into the mental aspect of it.

She needs a medical.

"Wow, you really weren't overreacting," Wind feels the need to repeat, and while Sun-il knows the words are inspired by simple shock at Jee-han's ability, he still has to ruthlessly suppress the urge to start freaking out again. He's saving it for later, when he can go hit something. A lot.

"Really don't need to be reminded of that," he tells his brother in a flat voice without taking his eyes off Jee-han, who finally manages to close the distance between herself and Grandfather. While Grandfather is standing next to low fence surrounding the small garden of a two story house. Very bad move on her part.

Grandfather leaps on the fence and onto the roof.

"Oh you absolute ba–" Sun-il has to grin as she barely manages to avoid the roof tile shot at her ribs with relatively exceptional speed. She really should've known better than to use that word in Grandfather's presence. He's more lenient on her because she doesn't live here, but that doesn't mean he'll let her curse as she pleases.

Rain's ki flickers with amusement, while Wind and Sae-young snicker, all of them finding the humor in this as well. They've all been victims of Grandfather's strict No Vulgarity policy, after all.

He watches as Grandfather starts to rapidly pelt her with more roof tiles. Jee-han runs away while avoiding most of them with supernatural grace, and manages to block the ones she can't dodge. Two hundred and thirty-five health left.

She doesn't manage is to shake Grandfather off her tail. He follows along the roofs and fences, never letting up his assault on her. One hundred and ninety-five health left.

"Inventory." She pulls out two energy bars and rushes out "Close inventory," before Grandfather can take any real advantage of her blindspot.

Grandfather prevents her from recovering her health by targeting the hand holding the energy bars, forcing her to keep moving in a way that doesn't allow her to take even a single bite. One hundred and seventy-five health left.

Sun-il sees the exact moment that Jee-han realizes just how disadvantaged she is now that Grandfather has the high ground. Took her long enough. While she's gotten a lot better at analyzing combat situations, she keeps making a lot of rookie mistakes as well. Like letting an opponent gain the high ground. Especially when that opponent specializes in mid-range projectiles.

Most of her mistakes are caused by the simple fact that it's difficult to think things through when in the middle of combat, no matter how much you train at it. She might be absurdly good at it now, yet another ridiculously overpowered minor skill her ability grants her, but even that has its limits. Only training and experience can make her become better at it.

Grandfather is taking advantage of that minor skill by changing environments every round and changing tactics every two. He's teaching her how to adapt quickly to new situations, the most valuable skill there is when it comes to combat.

The other main cause for her mistakes is that most of her goals require her to go against everything Sun-il has taught her about combat. For years he's trained her to create a single opening so she can escape, but that tactic simply doesn't work against users.

Not with her current proficiency at escaping barriers. Or rather, her current lack of it. It doesn't matter if she runs away, as long as the creator is conscious, the barrier will keep her trapped.

He's convinced that if she trains her barriers outside of their compound, they will improve at the same ridiculous rate all her other major skills do. Given that she'd also be glaringly obvious to anyone watching the city if she does, it's not like she can do that. Yet.

He knows he can't keep her hidden forever. He doesn't want to, either. Doesn't want to trap her.

He just wants her to stand at least a _chance_ at defending herself before she gets discovered.

In some ways, the sheer power of her ability helps with that. In most, it really doesn't.

It would be one thing if she was "merely" a newly awakened natural. Yes, people would come after her, but it wouldn't attract danger beyond what they could handle. Would only attract the kind of people his Clan has had to deal with since forever. A little more powerful than usual, but nothing truly exceptional. Nothing beyond the sort of people they rarely fails to catch before they can escape with one of their people. The sort of people he would've been overreacting about.

Except Jee-han's ability means that those aren't the only people who will come after her. The enticement of an ability like hers, the enticement of possessing it, will attract people so powerful that it's near certain one of them will eventually manage to capture her.

Even in the absolute best case scenario, she'll be a prisoner for the rest of her life. A well treated prisoner, but a prisoner nonetheless.

He doesn't dare to think of anything else that could happen to her.

Wind's ki is a warm brush of sympathy as his brother squeezes his shoulder. "She'll be fine," he says gently. While Sun-il won't deny that the assurance is nice to hear, it doesn't lessen his urge to freak out in the slightest.

"For how long?" he counters while watching Jee-han take shelter behind a car and finally manage to recover her health. Even in his current mood, he has to smile when he sees her scarf down two energy bars as fast she can. She looks like a frantic hamster.

She's still chewing when Grandfather enters her range again and starts pelting her with roof tiles once more. She dodges with supernatural grace while swallowing down the last of the energy bars. Three hundred health left. Two-eighty as she blocks another hit.

"The longer she's fine, the higher the odds of her staying that way," Wind replies.

Sun-il knows that, of course. The longer she trains, the better she'll be able to defend herself against the people that will come after her.

The reassurance would be a lot more comforting if the people coming after her weren't more powerful than Grandfather.

"You need to stop worrying," Sae-young declares like it's just that easy.

"Thank you for that true pearl of wisdom," he retorts in the most insulting way he can without taking his eyes off Jee-han.

"My pleasure," Sae-young returns cheerfully, not bothered by his mood in the slightest.

Jee-han attempts to get to higher grounds herself but is forced back down the street by an entire chimney being brought down on her, debris flying everywhere as it crashes. She manages to avoid it all aside from one piece, which she blocks. Two hundred and sixty health left.

"Seriously though, you need to stop worrying," Sae-young repeats while her ki pointedly nudges his.

"Say that again after your best friend turns into an infant demigod," he snaps without bothering to contain the aggravated flare of his own. The force with which he pushes her ki away makes Sae-young roll her eyes, but she thankfully does drop the topic.

"You said that eating instantly heals her?" Wind asks, partly as a distraction, partly because he genuinely wants to know.

"Yes, it does," he answers, gladly taking hold of the distraction.

Her instant healing is one of the most overpowered things about her ability, and that's really saying something. It's unbelievably absurd that it is yet another _minor_ skill.

Wind lets out a pensive hum. "Question, has she left the garden at all today?"

"No, she didn't. We even had lunch here." Truth is, it wouldn't be that big a deal if his Clan discovered Jee-han's new status. Well, it wouldn't be a big deal if it becomes known to the adults. It's the constant stream of visitors to their compound they have to worry about the most. Which is why they had lunch in the garden instead of the mess hall.

"Huh," Wind says but doesn't share whatever realization he just had. Which means it's something that will make him want to freak out even more. Great. Wonderful distraction his brother offered there.

Sun-il knows that it's pointless to panic, he really does. Panicking won't solve anything. The only thing that will is what they're doing right now, namely, training Jee-han.

If this had happened to anyone else, he wouldn't be reacting like this. He would've been able to deal with it.

It didn't happen to anyone else. It happened to Jee-han. His best friend.

It happened to the person who made him understand just how fragile normal people are.

He still remembers when she fell out of that tree. He won't ever be able to forget it because if he hadn't been there, if he hadn't caught her, she would've snapped her neck.

She would've died.

He was nine when that happened. When he truly grasped just how great the difference between his family and normals is. A fall like that, even if he hadn't tried to catch his balance or consciously enhanced himself, wouldn't have really hurt him. It would've been painful and left a spectacular bump to the head, but nothing more than that.

She would've died.

The physical gap between his family and others isn't limited to normals of course, but most users would've at least been able to soften the impact in some way, enough for it to become non-lethal. Normals can't do that.

Not without being trained to.

That incident was the reason he started teaching her. At first it hadn't been about combat, he just taught her how to recover her balance as best she can when falling. Teaching her combat came later, when he realized that falling wasn't the only danger she faced by far. Yes, it's the same kind of danger every normal in the city faces, but those normals aren't his best friend.

The fact is, part of him _always_ worries about Jee-han. He simply can't help it. Most of the time it doesn't bother him though, it's just there in the background, easily ignored as he goes about his day. It only flares up when something dangerous happens to her.

Her becoming an infant demigod is literally the most dangerous thing that could ever happen to her.

He watches as Jee-han grabs the lid of a trash can to use as a shield, something she really should've done a lot sooner. Better late than never, he supposes.

"Finally," Sae-young says, more to herself than anyone else.

"She should've taken two instead of one," Rain adds, which is true. Jee-han's ability has made her ambidextrous, but she doesn't take enough advantage of that. While she uses her left side to its full potential when attacking physically, she doesn't when it comes to wielding items. She needs to work on that.

She also needs to work on using her surroundings to her advantage. She does it a little, but she doesn't do it enough by far. Jee-han has a tendency to rely completely on her ability. Which isn't _that_ bad when she can use her Skills, but when she can't, she doesn't compensate enough for their lack.

It really is fascinating to see her fight as a user. In some ways she's incredibly observant, such as only needing to see Grandfather jump thrice in order to figure out the current limit he's imposed upon himself. In other ways she's completely oblivious, because she still hasn't realized that there's a glaring flaw in Grandfather's stance every time he throws something with his left hand.

So basically she fights like she does everything else. Observant in the strangest of ways and unbelievably oblivious in even stranger ones. Like how she easily figured out how to get more Skills, yet failed to realize that _she hasn't needed to eat in days_.

There's a reason he calls her a moron.

Jee-han finally manages to get on the same roof as Grandfather, courtesy of her shield, and has the good sense to position herself between Grandfather and the only house he can reach in a single jump. As she works to close the distance between them, Grandfather increases his throwing speed a fraction, simulating one of the possibilities that can happen when an opponent feels driven in a corner.

Jee-han isn't truly caught off guard by the increase in speed, but it does make her block a hit with a glaring flaw in her stance. Grandfather wastes no time in forcing her to drop her shield and making it fall to the street, before he increases the speed of his assault a fraction more.

The second increase in speed does take Jee-han by surprise and she doesn't manage to avoid the first faster tile, though she manages to twist out of the way enough for it to hit her arm instead of her ribs. Two hundred and ten health left.

She doesn't make the mistake of continuing her attempt to close the distance between her and Grandfather. Given the number of ammo Grandfather has at his disposal on a roof, that would lead to guaranteed failure. Instead, she tries to get off it.

Grandfather isn't letting her.

If she can hold out long enough for Grandfather to use up most of his ammo, she'll be able to escape and recover her health.

One hundred and fifty health left.

She's not going to hold out long enough.

"Won't be long now," Sae-young states the obvious.

Jee-han, in a decision fuelled by desperation, tries to dive off the roof in one leap. Failure is now guaranteed. Impressively, she does manage to block the tile aimed at her stomach. One hundred and thirty health left.

She doesn't manage to block the one to her leg.

"Damn it!" she yells with flickering eyes as soon as the tile hits, her power informing her that she's failed her "quest" and her previously focused ki turning into a wild mess of pure aggravation. Sun-il grins, the urge to freak out receding almost completely.

Now this is a fantastic distraction.

He quickly makes his way towards her and lands on a streetlight out of her sight, waiting for the perfect moment to make his entrance. He ignores the flare of amusement his behavior inspires in both his brothers and Grandfather, as well as fond exasperation from Sae-young. This is going to be fun.

"Damn, damn, damn, _damn_ ," Jee-han continues to curse as she lands down the street, before she kicks a car hard enough to dent the metal and make it skid a bit. Time to make his entrance.

"That could've gone better," he says with an innocent smile as he lands besides her.

"Go suck on a rotten egg!" she snaps while attempting to light him on fire with the force of her glare, creatively circumventing the No Vulgarity rule without even thinking about it.

Sun-il manages to give her a wounded look instead of grinning with glee. "What did I do to deserve such hostility?"

Jee-han's answering glare is pure venom. _You know exactly what you did, you complete and utter asshole_.

Sun-il drops the act and chuckles. She's hilarious when she's like this.

His laughter makes Jee-han punch his arm as hard she can, which is both a lot harder and faster than she could this morning. Still doesn't hurt in the slightest, but it won't be long before he'll have to start enhancing himself if she hits him when pissed off.

"If you hadn't jumped, you might've made it," he tells her in the kindest way there is.

"I will stuff tofu down your throat until you choke on it," she hisses back, practically breathing fire, and Sun-il can't help but snort with laughter.

It's difficult to get Jee-han worked up about something. Easy to annoy her, yes, easy to work her up, no. But when she does get worked up about something, she releases fire and brimstone on anyone unfortunate enough to be near her.

It's always so much fun when that happens. And it's been happening a lot today.

Losing at videogames always pushes her buttons, but failing this many "quests" has riled her up to heights he's only witnessed a handful of times.

His laughter once more makes Jee-han hit his arm as hard as she can, before her eyes flicker over thin air. Her punch must've increased her strength.

In the name of good research, he needs to confirm whether his theory is correct or not. "There are a lot of other things you could've done to beat your quest."

Jee-han lets out a strangled sound of pure rage and starts to say "Power Strike." Oh dear, seems he underestimated the intensity of the reaction that would inspire.

He enhances himself a little to catch the blow. Unlike her regular punches, Power Strike has already reached a level where it disrupts his balance if he doesn't. Not significantly, but it's better to develop the reflex of enhancing himself against her Skills on him as soon as possible.

Alas, given that Power Strike has risen a level since she last hit him with it, the blow doesn't let him determine whether her raw strength has increased or not. He'll have to provoke her again in order to find out. What a shame.

"Don't listen to him, you were great," Wind says as he, Rain and Sae-young join them. Really, his brother should know better than to try to comfort Jee-han when she's like this.

"Get hit by a moving truck!" she snaps with all the fire and brimstone she possess, changing targets to vent her frustration in her current mood, this is downright polite for her.

Hilariously, even though Wind knew it was coming, his ki still startles like Grandfather just raised his voice at him.

Sun-il, being the kind brother he is, directs her vitriol away from Wind. "I suppose you did a decent job," he says with the silent addition of _for a moron_.

Jee-han immediately punches his arm again. He was right, her strength has increased.

"Your greatest mistake was wielding one shield at a time instead of two," Rain informs her, ki tinted with amusement. Amusement that only grows when Jee-han turns fire spitting eyes towards him. His brother enjoys needling her when she's like this as well.

"Drown in a sea of sh–" Sun-il almost intercepts the orb Grandfather flicks at her shoulder, catching the reflex just in time. Jee-han cuts herself off with a pained yelp, her eyes flickering over thin air as one hand comes up to cradle the spot hit. Her Physical Resistance rose again? That was unusually fast.

"There will be no vulgarity spoken within this home," Grandfather reminds her with a look as stern as his ki, though neither are without amusement.

Jee-han replies with a glare so venomous that Sun-il can't help but chuckle. She's actually baring her teeth like a wild animal.

Naturally, his reaction makes her turn poisonous eyes towards him. "I hope you fall into a pool of boiling acid after being stung by a thousand bees," she hisses, making laugh. She comes up with the most creative insults when she's like this.

His reaction causes her to let out a sound of pure aggravation, before she turns around and kicks a streetlight hard enough to dent the pole. Then she keeps kicking it until it comes crashing down.

Sun-il watches her vent with a grin, the casual display of power easing something inside him in a way it didn't before. He knows the relief is temporary, the moment she and Grandfather resume their sparring, the insidious urge to panic will start to return. But right now it's completely absent.

Just by being herself, his best friend comforts him in a way no one else can.


	2. Chapter 2

When Sun-il is seven years old, he meets his best friend.

He doesn't know that she's going to become his best friend, of course. He only knows that this is his very first day of school and he _really_ doesn't want to go. He doesn't understand why he has to, either. Why can't he keep learning at home? Why does he need to be taught around so many people? None of them are very bright, but there are so many that it's difficult not to get distracted.

How is he supposed to pay attention to the teacher when there's so much ki around him? Why can't normals use barriers to teach in? It's stupid that they can't!

Father says that it's important to learn how to do this, but Sun-il doesn't want to! He wants to stay home and train with Hye-jin and Joon-ho and Yu-jin and all the others, and he wants Sung-min to teach him reading and writing and history, and he wants to play with his brothers when they get home. And he wants to already be home when they get home! He doesn't want to be here!

But Sun-il is a good son, so he doesn't complain when Father brings him and his brothers to school.

...He doesn't complain _much_.

After Father says goodbye and leaves, Hyun-ki goes to his friends. Chung-ho doesn't, his big brother stays with him, and Sun-il is very glad that he does. He doesn't want to be alone.

He's scared that Father won't come back for him.

Sun-il knows that's a stupid thing to be scared of. Father always picks up Chung-ho and Hyun-ki, so he'll pick up Sun-il too. Father also promised that he'll be here, and Father never breaks his promises. He'll come pick up Sun-il. He promised he would.

He _promised_.

Sun-il knows that Father will be back. He does. But he also kind of wants to cry, just a little.

He wants to go home.

He doesn't tell Chung-ho that he wants to cry, but he does tell him that he wants to go home. His big brother says that means he should talk to the other children. If he makes friends, he won't want to go home anymore. Sun-il isn't sure if he believes him, but he supposes that he should at least try it. His big brother is very smart.

But who should he talk to?

Some of the other children look like they want to cry as well, and others are actually crying. Sun-il is kind of glad about that. Not that he likes seeing them like this or wants them to be sad! It's just, he feels a little better that he isn't the only one who wants to cry.

But he doesn't want to talk with someone who is crying or wants to cry like he does. He's scared that he might really cry if he does. But he also doesn't want to talk to the other children, the ones who are smiling and talking and even playing! They actually seem to be _happy_ to be here.

Sun-il isn't happy to be here and he definitely doesn't want to talk to someone who is. He tells his big brother this after Chung-ho suggests talking to one of the playing children.

"Okay, then about her?" Chung-ho asks, pointing at one of the brightest people around. After a moment of hesitation, Sun-il decides that she's a good choice to talk to. Not because she's bright– well, not only because she's bright. He mostly decides to talk to her because she looks nervous and uncertain. She doesn't seem happy to be here, but she also doesn't look like she wants to cry.

The girl isn't that bright, but she's brighter than a normal. Like some of the users who aren't part of his Clan are.

Sun-il really hopes that she isn't like the normal students at home, the ones who have a talent but aren't users. He's studied very hard to act like a normal and he knows he can do it, but it's very difficult to do and right now he doesn't want to even try.

Not when he wants to go home so much.

"Hello," he says when he's near her, and is surprised when she spins around with a loud yelp.

"You scared me!" she yells. Sun-il is confused. Didn't she hear him approach? It's not like he was trying to be quiet.

Before he can ask, the girl frowns and continues talking. "Did you say hello? To me?" she asks, looking very uncertain. But she also looks... hopeful? Why would saying hello to her make her hopeful?

What a strange person this is turning out to be.

"Yes," he answers, and bows politely, because Father says that it's important to be polite. "I'm Shin Sun-il," he introduces.

"I'm Han Jee-han," she introduces as well. Sun-il is confused. She's obviously a girl, but isn't Jee-han a boy's name? Then she looks at him strangely and he wonders why she's doing that.

...She's looking at his hair. Why is she looking at his hair like that?

"Your hair's weird," she says firmly, making his eyes widen with surprise. His hair is weird? Why? What's wrong with it?

"My hair isn't weird," he denies, but can't help but bring up a hand to check.

His hair feels the same as ever.

"Yes it is! It's green and weird and looks like grass," she insists. While Sun-il doesn't understand what's weird about that, the way she says it makes him feel awkward and embarrassed. Makes him feel like there's something wrong with his hair.

He doesn't like feeling like this. He doesn't like feeling like this at all.

"Well you're weird too! And you're stupid!" he snaps, because she is! She's a stupid girl who says stupid things and his hair isn't weird!

Her eyes widen with shock, and then they fill with tears! Now Sun-il feels bad for a different reason than before. He didn't mean to make her cry!

He"s about to apologize when she starts to kick his leg and time slows down. It doesn't slow down much, he's too surprised by her attack to make it go slower, but it slows down enough for him to quickly dodge– he hesitates. He's not supposed to dodge quickly in school, he's supposed to do it slowly. Except that's very hard to do when time is going slow.

But time isn't going that slow, and because he hesitated he no longer has time to dodge slowly. So Sun-il makes himself stronger and lets her kick him.

It's the sloppiest kick he has ever seen.

"Auw, auw, auw!" she yells, hopping on one foot while holding the one she used to kick him. Sun-il remembers too late that he's not supposed to make himself stronger when children who aren't part of his Clan attack him. They hurt themselves when he does.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" he quickly asks, worried that he's hurt herself a lot. He didn't mean to hurt her, it was an accident! But he still hurt her and that's bad of him.

"You're mean!" she yells, before she spins around and starts hopping away.

Sun-il gapes. He's not mean! He's nice! Okay fine, he did a bad thing by hurting her, but that was an accident! And he said he was sorry for it!

He huffs and glares at her retreating back. She's already walking on both feet again, so she's obviously fine and he doesn't need to worry about having hurt her. And she's the mean one! She made fun of his hair, and she kicked him! It's mean to make fun of others and it's mean to kick people outside of training, so she's the mean one, not him.

Sun-il scowls and goes back to his big brother. When Chung-ho asks why the stupid girl kicked him, Sun-il glares at him as well. His big brother was wrong.

He wants to go home even more now.

* * *

Sun-il has been going to school for five whole days now, and he still dislikes it just as much as the first day. He still wants to go home the entire time.

School is _difficult_. Sun-il does his best, he really does, but the teacher often says boring stuff he already knows, and then someone's ki will flare, and he'll get distracted by that, and when he pays attention to the teacher again, he doesn't know what she's talking about! So he's confused until she starts talking about boring stuff again, and then someone's ki will flare again, and he gets distracted again!

He doesn't understand how Hyun-ki can actually _like_ going to school. Chung-ho also likes it, but he only likes it because he has friends there. Hyun-ki actually likes being in class! His brother can be so weird.

Everyone says that it'll get easier to pay attention to the teacher, that he just has to keep practicing, but Sun-il still doesn't understand why he needs to learn how to do that.

...Okay fine, he does understand. It's important to know how to listen to people even when they're being boring. Father sometimes has to listen to boring people, and even Grandfather sometimes has to, so Sun-il needs to learn how to do it too.

He just really wishes that he didn't.

But that's not the only reason he doesn't like going to school! He also _really_ doesn't like having to act like a normal. It's very hard to do, and he thought that he was good at it, but it turns out that he isn't. It's very different to act like a normal at home than it is to act like a normal at school.

The normals at school don't like it that he's so good at jumping and running and stuff. They say he's trying to make them look bad by being so good. He's not trying to be good! He's trying to be normal!

It's just a lot more difficult than he thought it would be.

The biggest reason that he doesn't like going to school, is because it isn't home.

Sun-il is _very_ happy when he goes home on Friday, because now he has a whole two and a half days where he doesn't need to go to school! Maybe he can even convince Father that he doesn't need to go anymore!

He fails to convince Father that he doesn't need to go. And the two and a half days without school are over _much_ too fast, so much faster than the days with school were, and now he has to _go back to school_.

Sun-il decides that Monday is his least favorite day _forever_.

"You're so dramatic," Chung-ho says with a grin when Sun-il tells him this. Sun-il gives him a looks that tells his big brother exactly what he thinks of that. He knows it's a joke, but it isn't funny.

Nothing about school is.

"No I'm not," he denies. He doesn't actually know what dramatic means, but if Chung-ho is making a joke of it, it probably isn't anything good. He'll ask Father what it means later.

"Yeah, you really are," Chung-ho says and ruffles his hair, his ki warm and playful. Sun-il lets out an annoyed huff, but he does feel a little better than before. Having his big brother ruffle his hair is always nice. "You just need to make some friends. School is much more fun after that," Chung-ho says with a firm nod, and that means he's definitely telling the truth.

"They don't like playing with me. They say I'm too good at it," Sun-il says in a way he knows Father calls "being sullen" but he doesn't care. He knew the normals were going to ignore him unless he talks to them first, but he didn't know that they wouldn't like him just because he's too good at their stupid games.

What is he supposed to do, pretend he doesn't know where they're all hiding? That's not easy! He keeps looking at where they're hiding, and then the ones he's already found know that he already knew where the others are hiding when he finally "finds" them, and then they get mad because he pretended that he didn't know! But before that, they got mad when he found them too quickly. They also got mad when they couldn't find him.

It's not his fault that they're so bad at searching.

And that's just hide-and-seek. When they played tag the first time, they got mad that he didn't let them tag him, even though that's the whole point of tag! But now they also get mad when he does let them tag him because _you're letting us tag you and it's no fun!_

Of course he's letting them tag him. They're all ridiculously slow and clumsy.

School is stupid.

"You know you shouldn't always be the best," Chung-ho reminds him even though Sun-il obviously knows that. He's not stupid.

"I know that," he returns with a look he doesn't use often, because he only uses it when his big brother is being dumb. "They get mad when I hold back too," he explains, and becomes even more annoyed just by saying it out loud. Normals make no sense at all. At home they don't mind that he's better than them. They just ask him to hold back half the time. That's fair, Sun-il wouldn't want to play with someone he always loses against either.

Why can't normals be the same?

"Try to befriend someone who doesn't like those kind of games," Chung-ho suggests.

"But _I_ like those kind of games," Sun-il counters, because he does. It's not easy sitting still for so long, so when they're allowed to play outside he wants to run and jump and _move_.

It's bad enough that he has to move like a normal, but not to move at all? To play games that require him to sit still just like in class?

School will become even worse if he does that.

His big brother shrugs. He doesn't have any more advice to give. Sun-il lets out the biggest sigh he can.

School is awful.

* * *

After the second week, Sun-il is convinced that school is never going to get better. It's going to be awful _forever_.

It's the third Monday with school, and he's sitting outside watching the others play. Ye-kun is in charge of the very large game, and he said that Sun-il couldn't play with them!

Stupid Ye-kun.

Sun-il debates on what to do. There are others sitting together and talking or playing games that don't need them to move, but he doesn't want to do that. He really wants to play something that needs him to move, even if he has to do it on his own.

Except he's not sure he should play on his own in school. By now he knows how fast he can run and how high can jump, but he doesn't know if he's allowed to do flips and tumbles and other fun stuff. He hasn't seen any normal do those yet. In school, but it turns out the normals at home are much better than normals at school. Which makes sense, the ones at home are being taught by his Clan.

Doesn't help him figure out if normals at school can do these things or not.

...Maybe if he sneaks into the gym, he can play on his own? Playing on his own is a lot less fun than playing with others, even when they're all normals, but it's better than not playing at all. And no one will see him there, so it probably won't be _too_ bad if he does something that normals can't do.

Decision made, Sun-il becomes as quiet as he can and sneaks away. He really hopes his brothers aren't paying attention to him, but he's pretty sure that they aren't. Their ki doesn't flare, and they don't start coming after him.

Sun-il is so focused on his brothers that he almost doesn't realize that there's a person sitting around the corner. When he does realize, he immediately recognizes her brightness as well.

It's the girl who made fun of his hair. Han Jee-han.

Sun-il hasn't talked to her since that first day and he definitely doesn't want to change that. She made fun of his hair. She's mean.

She's also in his way. If he wants to get to the gym, he either has to climb the building or sneak past her, and Father says he's not allowed to climb buildings without a grown-up from his Clan being around.

Sneaking it is.

Focusing on her ki to figure out how best to sneak past her, Sun-il realizes that she's sitting with her back to the wall. He'll have to go very far around her to make sure she doesn't see him. Then he realizes that she's sitting with her knees draw up and that her head is laying down on them. Even better, she's hugging her knees, so he won't have to go far around her! He'll just have to be quick enough to be gone before she looks up. Though he can't use more ki than usual to do that, otherwise his brothers will notice what he's doing.

Sun-il starts sneaking again, careful to remain as quiet as he can. But when he passes the corner and actually sees her, he hesitates.

She's crying. Silently, her breathing is calm, but now he can see that her cheeks are wet and her shoulders are trembling a little. As he watches, a new tear slides down.

Sun-il wavers. He... still doesn't want to talk to her. She's still mean. But he also doesn't want her to keep crying.

Sun-il doesn't like seeing people cry.

...He supposes it wouldn't hurt to try to make her stop crying. Somehow.

Best to figure out why she's crying first.

"Why are you crying?" His question makes her yelp and she tries to spin around. She almost falls down when she does, even though she's already sitting on the ground. People outside his Clan are so clumsy.

Now that she's looking at him, he can see even better that her cheeks are wet and that her eyes are glassy.

He doesn't like seeing her like this. Doesn't like seeing anyone like this.

"You scared me!" she yells just like last time. Unlike last time, he was trying to be quiet, so it's not weird that she didn't hear him. "Wait, you're the mean boy!" she exclaims while getting to her feet. He scowls.

"I'm not mean, you're mean!" he retorts, before he remembers that he's trying to make her stop crying. Calling her mean isn't a good way to do that.

"No I'm not, you are!" she snaps back, before she uses her sleeves to wipe her tears away. Sun-il would've been glad that she doesn't seem to want to cry anymore if he hadn't been so annoyed by her obvious lies.

"No, I'm not," he insists, and quickly explains why when she opens her mouth. He just knows that she's going to say that he's mean again. Which is a lie, he isn't. "You made fun of my hair and you kicked me, so _you're_ the mean one, _not_ me." There, that makes it clear that he's not mean. She is.

"You called me stupid! That's a mean thing to say, so _you're_ the mean one," she counters.

...Okay fine, that was a mean thing to say. But he only said it because she made fun of his hair first!

"I only said it because you made fun of my hair." He knows that doesn't change that calling her stupid was a mean thing to say, but it's not like he did it for no reason.

"I didn't make fun of your hair," she tries to deny, which is just dumb. He knows what happened and so does she, and what happened is that she made fun of his hair.

"Yes you did! You said it's weird and looks like grass." Which doesn't sound so bad when he says it, but when she said it, she made it sound like a _very_ bad thing.

"Because it _is_ weird and it _does_ look like grass." See! She's doing it again!

There is _nothing_ wrong with his hair. He knows, he asked Father and Father said that his hair _isn't_ weird. Father is always right.

"My hair isn't weird," he snaps, glaring at the stupid girl who's making fun of his hair again.

"It's _green_ ," she says like it's supposed to mean something.

"So?" What does the color of his hair have to do with anything?

"So?" she repeats like he just said something stupid, and it makes him feel stupid, and he doesn't like feeling like this _at all_. "It's green! Normal hair isn't green!"

Her words make him hesitate, anger replaced by confusion and uncertainty. It isn't?

...Now that he thinks about it, he's never seen a normal his age with anything other than black or brown hair. So maybe... maybe she's not making fun of his hair after all? Maybe she just think it's weird because she's never seen green hair before?

"You've never seen green hair before?" he asks to make sure.

"Of course not! Green hair is _weird_ ," she insists again, but for the first time it doesn't make him feel like there's something wrong with his hair.

So he shrugs. "I don't understand why that's weird." Maybe he would if he'd never seen green hair before, but he has, so it isn't weird.

She gives him a bewildered look. Sun-il feels a smile grow. She looks funny like that.

"Your hair. Is. Greeeen," she says very slowly. Like he didn't hear her the first hundred times she said it.

"It's always been green," he counters.

"Then it's always been weird," she says while jutting out her chin and crossing her arms. She looks like Sae-young when his cousin did something wrong and doesn't want to admit it.

"No it hasn't, because if it's always been green, that means being green is normal for my hair," he explains, and grins at her confused and frustrated expression. Can't argue with that, now can she?

She opens her mouth, closes it with a huff, and gives him a _very_ annoyed look.

His grin grows. She's funny when she isn't being mean.

"It's still weird," she finally declares with a stubborn look, jutting her chin out even more.

Sun-il smiles like he does at Chung-ho when his big brother makes a lame joke.

"It is!" she snaps with a glare.

Sun-il grins again. It's fun to tease her.

She lets out another huff. "You're still mean."

Wait, what?

"No I'm not." How is he being mean? He's teasing her, not making fun of her.

"Yes you are! You called me stupid!"

Oh. Well, yes, that was mean of him. And she wasn't actually making fun of his hair, so he no longer has a reason for saying that.

"I'm sorry I called you stupid," he apologizes.

Her eyes widen with surprise, before she lowers her gaze and shuffles her feet. She looks kind of embarrassed, though he doesn't know why. She's right, that was mean of him.

"...I'm sorry I kicked you."

Her apology surprises him. It's nice to hear, but it's not like her kicking him is a big deal. Anymore. He was much more upset about it when he still thought she was making fun of his hair.

He shrugs even though he knows she can't sense it. "It's fine. It's not like it hurt." Even if he hadn't made himself stronger, it wouldn't have really hurt. Her kick was very weak. And very sloppy.

Very, very sloppy. By now he's seen other normals in school kick, but if he hadn't, he would've kept calling it the sloppiest kick ever.

She looks up with confusion. "It didn't?"

"It didn't," he confirms with a firm nod, making sure she knows he's telling the truth. If he'd kicked someone he wasn't supposed to, he'd definitely want to know that he didn't really hurt them.

"Oh. That's good," she says and falls silent. Normally Sun-il wouldn't mind, but the way she keeps looking straight into his eyes makes the silence kind of... creepy.

So he decides to break it. "Why are you here?" It's not that he really wants to know, it's just the first thing he thought of to say.

ng her creepily stare at him. Though Sun-il doesn't understand why she's confused. It's not like it's a difficult question.

"...I go to school here?" she more asks than answers. Sun-il is pretty sure that she's messing with him. Who gives an answer like that?

"I know that," he returns with a look he usually saves for when grown-ups are being dumb. She's in his class, of course he knows that she goes to school here. "I mean, why are you hiding here?" he clarifies when she starts to frown with confusion again.

Sun-il realizes too late that's a stupid thing to ask. Obviously she came here to cry, and now he's reminded her of that!

He's very glad when she doesn't start crying again, but he isn't glad when she becomes very sad. She lowers her gaze and gives a shrug that makes her look even sadder.

"No one asked me to play with them. No one ever does."

For a moment, Sun-il is confused. Then he understands.

She's not a user. She's a talented normal.

Normals without talents don't talk to her unless she talks to them first. He... doesn't really understand what's so bad about that. Or why she doesn't just ask to play with them herself. But he has his entire Clan to talk to him. Maybe it's different for people without a Clan.

It must be, because while she's still not crying, she keeps looking so sad that he wants to cheer her up.

But how does he do that?

"...Want to play with me?" His question makes her head snap up with shock and she opens her mouth, before she closes it with a confused expression. A confusion that turns into... wonder? What? Why?

He's glad that she no longer looks sad.

"You're talking to me," she says in an awed voice. Sun-il gives her another look he usually saves for when grown-ups are being dumb.

"I've been talking to you the whole time." He realizes too late that saying this isn't a good way to make her cheer up, but really. That was a very dumb thing to say.

She quickly shakes her head and moves her hand like she's waving his words away "No, I mean you talked to me before I talked to you!" she exclaims like no one's ever done that before.

...If she's never met another user or a talented normal, he probably really is the first to do that.

"I did," he says, not really knowing what else to say to that. And kind of scared that saying anything else will make her become sad again.

She stares at him with wonder and bewilderment. It's a lot better than seeing her be sad, but it also makes him feel strange and uncomfortable, in a very different way than before. He tries to think of something to say to make her stop looking at him like that.

"Yes!" she suddenly blurts. Yes, what?

She answers that question before has to ask out loud. "Yes I'll play with you! If... if you still want to?" she asks, becoming hesitant and uncertain.

Sun-il is about to answer that of course he still wants to when he has a very important thought. "Only if you don't get mad when I win," he warns, because while he doesn't want her to be sad, he also doesn't want yet another person get mad at him for being _too good_.

She gives him a confused look. "Why would I get mad about that?"

Sun-il feels a huge grin grow. That's a very good answer! And now he doesn't have to go to the gym anymore, he has someone to play with! Sure, she won't be any good at it, but it's always more fun to play with someone than it is to play alone.

"Okay, you can play with me. Tag, you're it!" he yells as he taps her shoulder, before running away the normal way.

"Hey, no fair! You didn't say start first!" she yells while running after him, but when he turns around to look at her, he sees that she has a huge grin as well.

"Catch me if you can!" he challenges while continuing to run away backwards, and is happy when she does her best to run a little faster.

He doesn't know it then, but from that moment on, he's Han Jee-han best friend. She's not his own best friend, not yet, that will take more time. But she's definitely his friend.

As it turns out, his big brother is right. School is much more fun with a friend.

* * *

 **AN:** I present, a glimpse into the elaborate headcanon I have for most of the characters in the TFG verse, and Sun-il in particular. Poor kid had such a culture shock when he first started going to school with normal people X3


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